The The Core Principles Underlying

Fairness, Accountability, and

Transparency in Business
Operation and Stewardship

Business Ethics
Trends, Networks, and Social
and Critical Responsibility
Thinking in the 21st Century
Directions: Read the text below and follow the given instructions.
Write your answers on a separate sheet of paper.
Miguel works as an accountant in a big corporation. For 2019,
the tax payable by his company to the Bureau of Internal Revenue
(BIR) is more than Php 10,000,000.00 pesos. Since he is
assigned to transact business with the BIR, he connived with the
revenue officer where they both agreed to lower the tax to Php
5,000,000.00 only. Then, the Php 2,000,000.00 was given to the
collecting officer and the Php 3,000,000.00 went to Miguel’s own
pocket.
Supposing you work with Miguel at the accounting department
and you suddenly discovered what he did, what would you do?

Business Ethics
Trends, Networks, and Social
and Critical Responsibility
Thinking in the 21st Century
Put check (/) if the action is acceptable. If not, leave it
as it is.
_____ I will talk to Miguel and tell him that I will not
report him provided that he shares with me his part.
_____ I will immediately report him to the manager.
_____ I will not do anything because I do not want to
be involved in the issue.
_____ I will share the information to my closest
officemate, but we will never disclose it to others.

Business Ethics
Trends, Networks, and Social
and Critical Responsibility
Thinking in the 21st Century
Have you been blamed for something you did not do?

Have you gotten a grade that you think you

did not deserve?

Have you lost somebody else’s property

which you just borrowed? Explain what
happened.
Business Ethics
Trends, Networks, and Social
and Critical Responsibility
Thinking in the 21st Century
Core principles to help the business organization get on the
right track:
1. Fairness
This is the standard of judging which is exempted
from bias or prejudice.
When someone displays fairness in making decision,
he/she pleases all involved parties and offers a solution that
is beneficial to everyone.
In business context, fairness means balancing the
interests involved in all decision-making including those
related to hiring, firing, and the compensation and reward
system.
Business Ethics
Trends, Networks, and Social
and Critical Responsibility
Thinking in the 21st Century
 Fairness is giving to a person what is due to him/her.

It has something to do with justice because

the employer checks whether the members
have the benefits and burdens distributed
evenly to them.

Business Ethics
Trends, Networks, and Social
and Critical Responsibility
Thinking in the 21st Century
Examples of fairness:
- A boss listening to both sides of the story
before judging who is right and who is wrong.

- An employer giving 13th month pay to all

his/her employees.
- A person paying the right price for a
product purchased or for a service received.
Business Ethics
Trends, Networks, and Social
and Critical Responsibility
Thinking in the 21st Century
2. Accountability
The most important aspect of preventing and detecting
corruption is the sound accountability structures.

A civil society organization without proper

systems of accountability is fragile and open to
rumors of mismanagement and abuse of
authority.
Business Ethics
Trends, Networks, and Social
and Critical Responsibility
Thinking in the 21st Century
 Accountability is the explication and
justification process.
It is about testing, forming a judgment,
and taking an action if necessary.
It also comes with responsibilities.
Holding people to account for those actions
which they are responsible for is fair.

Business Ethics
Trends, Networks, and Social
and Critical Responsibility
Thinking in the 21st Century
 Accountability is therefore an obligation to
demonstrate that work has been carried out in
accordance with agreed rules and standards, or
to report on performance results fairly and
accurately in relation to mandated roles and/or
plans.

Business Ethics
Trends, Networks, and Social
and Critical Responsibility
Thinking in the 21st Century
Examples of accountability:
A cashier admits he/she lost the company’s
collection and it is his/her mistake.
An engineer who is assigned on a project is the one
to be blamed if the project did not meet the deadlines.
Employee A recommended his cousin to be their
company janitor, but the latter stole the cellular phone
of their secretary. Therefore, Employee A may be
blamed for recommending his/her cousin and should
pay or replace the lost cellphone.
Business Ethics
Trends, Networks, and Social
and Critical Responsibility
Thinking in the 21st Century
3. Transparency
Transparency, at the individual level, considers
intrinsic or ethical salience as an important feature of
the relational dimension of a person.
It is described as a personal quality which is
necessary to develop unity between and among
individuals.
A transparent approach makes a person more
honest and sincere in his/her relationships, in
communicating his/her points of view, and in
working actively to find shared meanings and goals.
Business Ethics
Trends, Networks, and Social
and Critical Responsibility
Thinking in the 21st Century
 Transparency helps people to
consider how the actions of social
organizations such as multinational
agencies and non-governmental
groups offer meaningful support to
civil society and whether funding is
being properly spent.
Business Ethics
Trends, Networks, and Social
and Critical Responsibility
Thinking in the 21st Century
Examples of transparency:
Reporting accurately the company’s
financial situation and risks to investors
Holding and selecting bids according to
an open pre-defined process
Having an open process of decision-
making such as in hiring additional
employees
Business Ethics
Trends, Networks, and Social
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Thinking in the 21st Century